1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storage structures, and more particularly to overhead storage structures conformed for suspended attachment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Overhead storage structures have been known in the past. Typically the cost and maintenance of storage space are directly related to floor space. As a consequence storage of personal articles is associated with the costs of the housing structure, and the hobbyist, artist, or collector is often forced with the hard choice between cost of storage and artistic pursuit. Similarly, artisans, mechanics and those engaged in business are always exchanging tool or merchandise inventory against the cost of its storage. Accessible storage is therefore uniformly sought.
In the past various storage structures have been devised which in one way or another are deployed overhead. Amongst these are structures associated with lifting mechanisms for raising and lowering the storage assembly, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,619 to Welsch et al and U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,843 to Sferra. Each of the foregoing, while suitable for the purposes intended, describes a fairly complex structure that is devoted to lift, and store substantial overhead weights.
Alternatively, other passive or manually articulated overhead storage arrangements have been devised as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,239 to Guerin and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,215,366 and 5,056,878 to Givens. Again, while suitable for the purposes intended, each of the foregoing entails substantial structural elements which often extend from the ceiling to the floor or present a formidable visual mass that creates the appearance of crowding.
In the recent past, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 416,152 has been issued to Sidney Thomas Payne describing an ornamental welded wire constructed storage structure suspended on spaced welded wire supports tied to a ceiling. While the welded wire structural implementation provides a somewhat less visually encumbered appearance, further improvements are possible both in the nature of the accommodation thereof to the available spaces and in the manner in achieving positive suspension engagement directly to structural elements and beams. It is these improvements that are disclosed herein.
Accordingly, it is the general purpose and object of the present invention to provide an overhead storage structure variously formed from standardized welded wire segments.
Other objects of the invention are to provide welded wire modular components that are combined to form overhead storage.
Yet further objects of the invention are to provide a light weight overhead storage assembly that is conveniently suspended from overhead beams.
Briefly, these and other objects are accomplished within the present invention by providing a standardized welded wire module each defined by a welded wire panel reinforced along both longitudinal edges by a spaced and offset wire element. Several of these modules can then be joined to each other to form a support surface stiffened at the common longitudinal sides by the above described offset wire element.
To provide transverse stiffness, the joined modules are supported by spaced transverse pieces each fixed at the ends to a corresponding lower end of a paired set of support straps, which, at the upper end each strap is then attached to an adapter which is secured to a ceiling beam or other structural member. Each of the straps, in turn, comprises an upper end and a lower overlapping segment fastened to each other by known fasteners such as a nut and a bolt. To allow for fine vertical length adjustment of each of the straps, the respective upper and lower segments may each include a series of evenly spaced bolt openings for fastening the straps to each other at the correct height deployment.
At the upper end, the upper strap segment is again secured by a bolt to a selected opening in the vertical surface of an L-sectioned adapter which, at the horizontal surface, is securable by a screw or bolt directly to the structure of an overhead beam. The several fastening openings in both the vertical and horizontal surfaces of the adapter allow for a substantial offset between the attachment of the strap and the beam fastening, thereby accommodating a fairly wide scope of choices for the deployment of the inventive storage assembly.
In those instances where a fairly large offset is required between the beam attachment and the attachment of the suspension strap triangulation links may be utilized to limit any adapter loading in cantilever or bending. Again, the links may be pierced with fastener openings at several intervals relative the piercings in the strap segments to accommodate variations in the resulting geometry.
Preferably each of the welded wire modules is dimensioned in integer multiples of standard structural beam spacing and the offset allowable in each adapter is a fraction thereof. In consequence the inventive storage structure can be variously positioned along walls or in other alignments that minimize its optical bulk.